Thursday, April 15, 2010

Paradise Sukima 13

It’s morning in Gensokyo, where the sun shines brightly upon a beautiful spring day. No on would ever guess that Alice Margatroid is engaged in many fierce battles at the Netherworld, however, that isn’t the only tale that takes place this day...

At the Subterranean, in Parsee’s house, Yuugi and Parsee busy themselves writing names on pieces paper, making them look as extravagant and colorful as they can. Parsee finishes drawing her own name, making it look like balloons, while Yuugi finishes her own name, giving it a 3 dimensional look. Parsee’s eyes glow green for a second, then her lips widen and wriggle, and while looking at Yuugi with contempt, she says “yours is better! Why is that?” Yuugi smiles, then tosses the paper away, then says “I’m just better than you, that’s all.” Parsee trembles while biting down on her own thumb, while Yuugi continues to stare back with a festive smile on her face, then says “aw, cheer up. Let me help you with that!” Yuugi takes Parsee’s paper right from under Parsee’s elbow, then starts to work her magic on it, using a pencil with great skill and agility, then is done in just a minute. She presents the drawing with a “ta-dah~!”, showing Parsee’s name with a 3 dimensional balloon effect, making Parsee herself even more jealous. Parsee takes the paper from Yuugi’s hand and says “I’m so jealous of your skill!” Yuugi chuckles, then says “let’s give them some color. Maybe you’re better than me at that.” Still staring at Yuugi with contempt, Parsee nods, then both girls begin to paint their names quietly, Yuugi inexplicably holding the paper with her own name again, until Parsee looks at Yuugi’s name, then says “no way! I’ll do that one, and you do this one!” Yuugi smiles and shrugs, then says “sure. Let’s switch.” After switching, there is quiet between the two, and while Parsee is distracted ruining Yuugi’s name with green colors, Yuugi covers her mouth as she grins and quietly snickers, then pulls a small vial full of gold glitter, then turns it to empty it on the paper. Parsee holds the glue on her left hand and takes Yuugi’s glitter with her right while smiling, then her smile turns to a wicked grin as she says “not this time, miss oni!” Yuugi smiles and mockingly says “oh, please, don’t do that. You’ll fill my name with glitter!” Parsee rapidly applies the glue with the brush to her paper and empties the glitter on it, then blows on it all around the table while smiling with mischief. Yuugi hums as she continues painting on her paper, ignoring Parsee as she mockingly says “please, stop, you’re scattering glitter all over the place.” After scattering all the glitter, Parsee looks to Yuugi with a sense of accomplishment, and with a smug face, she shows Yuugi the paper with her name, then Yuugi exclaims “whoa, you’re awesome, Parsee-chan. I could have never glittered my name so well!” Parsee’s smug face twists to a depressive state as she stares back at the smiling Yuugi, then realizes she glittered Yuugi’s name to perfection. Yuugi lifts her paper, showing Parsee her fully-colored name, then smiles as she contently says “I was hoping to add some glitter to the first letter... but it seems you had other plans.” With her defeated face, Parsee asks “what are you talking about?” Yuugi smiles and points her hands all around the table. Yuugi’s name is now in glittered all over the table, on the floor and even on the spare chair to the left of Yuugi herself. Parsee trembles as her lips turn jagged and her eyes are cast in shadow, and sounding ominously enraged, she says “you tricked me! You think you’re so smart. I’m so damned jealous of you right now!” Yuugi snickers, but both girls suddenly yelp and jump in surprise when a white light zips by close to the house, lighting up a large area as it does. Yuugi and Parsee run out of the house and notice the light is headed straight to the Earth Spirit’s Palace. Parsee grabs her scarf, and while biting and pulling down hard on it, she mutters “so... damned... jealous!” Yuugi stares with concern, then says “they might need our help there, so fun’s over, princess. Come on!” Yuugi runs ahead, while Parsee continues on her jealousy rampage for a moment, then realizes Yuugi is gone and runs after her, saying “why are you faster than me!? That’s not FAIR!”

Meanwhile, at the Kappa-pa Resort’s workshop, Nitori gives Marisa some last instructions while she and Mima prepare a green UFO, which is smaller than Flandre’s own. Nitori signals Mima to sit on the only other available seat next to Marisa’s, then says “remember, you have to let this take in some sun if there isn’t enough magic in the air for self-fueling. Also, those items I gave you are very dangerous. Use them sparingly, please.” Marisa nods, then surprises the little kappa by giving her a sudden hug while saying “you have no idea how grateful I am for your help.” Nitori’s face turns bright red, then slowly pushes Marisa away, bashfully saying “er, y-yeah, heh heh. You’re welcome.” Mima suddenly asks “oy, miss kappa. Who was that in the room across from ours? He sounded strange.” Nitori yelps and looks back to Marisa and Mima with shock and surprise, then says “er, um, that is... Um, he’s a human I found lost in the forest about a week ago. He’s recovering very nicely. So, um, once he’s done recovering, he’s going to live in the village.” While Nitori still looks awkwardly nervous, Mima stares suspiciously, but Marisa elbows Mima’s abdomen, signaling her to settle down, then says “just ignore her, ze. She’s just trying to get some attention.” Nitori calms down and smile, then says “oh, and um... sorry my experiment didn’t work.” Marisa twitches for a moment, then sighs and calms down, then says “i-it’s alright. I wasn’t expecting to get my magic back so easily.” Marisa smiles confidently, then says “besides, thanks to that, and some of Mima’s crash courses, I can use a few sparks... so thanks, da-ze!” Nitori smiles as her cheeks turn pink, then she walks over to a lever to her left and pushes it with some effort. A large gate opens up above the workshop, revealing an exit right next to the tengu’s waterfall, and while Marisa starts up the aircraft, Nitori says “you let me know how all those work out. Like I said, I haven’t been able to properly test them in the outside.” Marisa salutes Nitori as they rise to the air, then Mima says “oh, and sorry for clogging the pool 5 times in a row. You don’t know how hard it is to keep a bikini on while phasing.” Nitori’s eyes hide under shadow as the realization slowly hits her, then she angrily waves her fist at Mima while shouting “so it was YOU!!! Do you have any idea how many times I got sucked in by the filters!? HEY! I’m talking to you! HEY~~!” Marisa and Mima are now flying just above the trees of the Youkai Forest, when Marisa asks “did you hear something, Mima-sama?” Mima smiles, giggles and flaps her hand in the air in front of her own face and says “don’t worry, don’t worry. Just keep driving.” Mima suddenly realizes she doesn’t know where they are going, so she looks at Marisa with curiosity, then asks “so, where are we going?” Marisa smiles, hiding her worried eyes under her hat as she says “the Garden of the Sun. Since I can’t use my Master Spark, I need that flower youkai’s help for sealing that gate shut.” Mima stares curiously at Marisa for a moment, then asks “but why Master-?” Marisa answer before she finishes “to completely seal that gate, I need powerful magic to destroy at least one of the stones holding that gate in place.” Mima stares expressionless toward Marisa, but then turns concerned when she notices great fear in Marisa’s face. She looks away, deciding to ignore that face, however, she occasionally glances over, wonder if she could say something to cheer her apprentice up.

At the same time, at the Myouren Temple. Reimu walks down the road to the temple when she comes across a number of villagers, all looking a little worried and scared, murmuring something about the atmosphere. Reimu approaches two men and asks “excuse me, what’s going on?” The man to the right answers “we tried to go to the temple today, but the nun there told us the temple was closed off.” The other man adds “and there was this weird feeling all over the atmosphere there. It was like being squeezed by the air itself, and the mouse youkai looked very frightening.” The first man immediately says “we all decided to head back, in case something happened.” The second man adds “it would be best of you keep away from that place, miss. I don’t think it’s safe.” Reimu watches as the two men quickly rejoin the group of villagers, then turns around and before long, she starts to fly toward the temple, saying “I’m not liking the sound of that. Maybe Byakuren is hiding something.” Immediately upon arriving, Reimu feels the cold air and heavy atmosphere around the temple grounds. She bravely walks to the front gates and calls “hello~! Is anybody here!?” She looks around and notices dark clouds looming right above the temple building and shouts “Nue, is that you!?” Reimu continues to approach the gates, and since nobody answers, she pushes the doors open. She looks inside the dimly lit temple, then Nazrin jumps from behind a seat, stretching her arms while saying “please, go back!” From Nazrin’s left, Ichirin stares with a preoccupied face and says “it’s for your own good.” From behind Nazrin, Minamitsu reveals herself and says “it’s really not safe here for you.” Reimu stares back at each girl, noticing a sense of urgency in their eyes, then asks “what’s going on? The villagers all sensed something, and I can feel something very weird around here. Tell me, what’s going on?” Shou walks out of the rooms to the main hall, then approaches Reimu with a worried and tired look, then says “the day that magical shockwave hit this place, Lady Hijiri started feeling very dizzy. She finally collapsed a few hours afterward and hasn’t woken up since.” Reimu looks back to Shou and asks “what happened? Where is Nue?” Everybody seems to relax as Shou gets closer to Reimu while saying “Nue is with lady Hijiri right now. We don’t really know what happened, but ever since she fell unconscious, those clouds have been covering the temple, and she’s been mumbling about seals and Houkai. It’s like, she’s inside a nightmare and can’t wake up.” From the rooms, Byakuren is heard screaming and calling for help, then silence once more. Reimu pulls out her gohei and intends to break in, but Shou is already pointing her lance to Reimu’s neck, and with a tired and worried expression, she says “I’m sorry, miss Reimu, but I’m afraid you can’t go in.” Reimu clenches her teeth and glares at Shou, who sighs and says “whatever is affecting lady Hijiri also affects any human that gets close. Reimu, please leave, and let us handle this.” Reimu continues to glare for a moment, but relaxes and puts her gohei away, and while Shou pulls her lance away, Reimu asks “tell me something. Has Byakuren been with Marisa before?” Shou looks back with curiosity, then Reimu says “that magical shockwave was caused by a dangerous magical experiment Marisa was conducting, and I discovered that in order for her to succeed, she would have needed help from another, more powerful magician.” Shou shakes her head, then says “I’m sorry, Reimu, but lady Hijiri hasn’t been with miss Marisa at all.” Reimu looks into Shou’s eyes, looking for any sign of lies, however she finds none, so she sighs and turns around, then says “back to where I started, then. Look, if you need any help with Byakuren... I’ll be in the shrine.” Shou nods and says “that’s very generous of you to offer us help. I will take it to consideration.” Reimu sighs again, waves at the girls, then flies away. Nazrin approaches Shou and asks “do you think it was a good idea to tell her, master?” Shou’s eyes water as she looks toward Reimu’s silhouette and says “I really don’t know anymore, Nazrin.” Nazrin, Minamitsu, Ichirin and even Unzan, all stare back at Shou, hoping an answer would come for them soon.

At the Human Village, in Kyo’s house, Medicine serves herself some tea and snacks and takes them on a tray outside, sits on the house’s porch, and calmly drinks and eats, while watching the sky. She sighs and says “so peaceful. Certainly better than those days at that hill, right Su-San?” Su-San quietly flies in a circle above the doll’s head as agreement, then a tiny sparrow zips past them, entering the house in a hurry, making Su-San spin around in the air for a moment. Medicine takes a sip of her tea and calmly says “there goes the peace and quiet.” Su-San lands on Medicine’s shoulder, then angrily nods. Inside the house, Kyo screams and is quickly accompanied by the RKNS’ angry chirps. Kyo runs down the stairs to the living room, chasing after the little sparrow, then shouts “you KNOCK before entering the bathroom, you mangy bird!” The RKNS slaps Kyo across the face with its wing, then Luna comes walking down the stairs and casually says “oh, mister Sparrow. Another incident already?” The RKNS flies straight to Luna and give her a messy-looking letter. Luna stares at it curiously, but quickly opens it and looks inside. She covers her mouth, then says “Kyo, you better come and read this.” Annoyed, Kyo approaches Luna, then presses his cheek against hers, then reads out loud “dear whoever you may be. My name is Elly, the beautiful gate guard for your local flower youkai, miss Yuka Kazami. Something is very, very wrong with our Yukarin, and me and Kurumi, she’s a friend, find ourselves trapped and kind of out of options. It would be very nice if you could send help our way, here on the Garden of the Sun (that’s where we are trapped), and it would be even nicer if you bring that red and white shrine maiden. Oh yes, please tell her miss Yukarin is attacking everyone on sight. The beautiful Elly. P.S. If you could bring some blood, that would be so nice of you, and thank you.” After reading the letter, Kyo stares at it with disdain for a moment, then sounding annoyed he says “so? Go get that la—“ Kyo remembers what Reimu told him about before, and the beating he got from the bird in the Youkai Forest, so he re-thinks his words and says “alright, then. Let’s get going.” Luna smiles and says “let’s see if our training pays off”, then rushes upstairs to look for her swords and flash pins. Kyo sighs, then looks at the RKNS and says “if you’re not gonna help, then buzz off. Let Reimu know we’re on it.” The RKNS pecks Kyo’s forehead, chirping angrily as he does, then flies away while Kyo chases him with his fist raised and shouting “get back here, you little creep!” From the porch, Medicine calmly asks “so when are we heading out.” Kyo calms down and sounding serious he says “right now. You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.” Medicine smiles, and after she drinks the last of her tea she says “no way. You two need me.” Kyo smiles back, then suddenly starts thinking and asks “hey... have you seen that Agava girl? And what about those Kimi and Kali girls?” Medicine shrugs and says “I don’t know.”

Inside the void, Ail and the guardian dragon calmly talk about Ail’s memories. Ail glows blue as he finishes his sentence, saying “and that’s when we went to look for Budou on that other Makai. Sanae and I found the door to that place on a mountain in the outside world. I was doubting myself a lot during that time, and I think Sanae picked up on that. She was acting stranger than usual.” The dragon takes a deep breath, growling softly as he does, then says “you did mention she is a living goddess, so for her, achieving something like that would be only too easy.” Ail chuckles and says “well, I managed to lift my spirits when I thought about Budou’s safety, and when all seemed to be going well... a mountain falls on top of Sanae.” Ail turns to light blue and says “I thought she was dead. I thought it was all my fault. Thankfully, a dragon from that world lifted the mountain for us, and we quickly found out she was just fine. Then he told us where to find Budou.” The guardian dragon smiles, then says “lucky he wasn’t hungry, huh.” Ail turns back to blue, then says “oh yeah. I must say, if it wasn’t for Dai-Drecon, we would have never found Budou.” The dragon abruptly stops Ail and asks “whoa, whoa, whoa! You met Dai-Drecon!?” Confused, Ail turns lilac, stares back, and asks “yes? Why? Is he a friend?” The dragon guardian sighs, then says “he is more than a friend. He is my master, and the reason I am in this paradise. Tell me, how is he?” Ail calms down, now turning green, then says “well, he is a sight to behold. He seemed ok, but a little sad. The master of those lands seems to get under his nerves.” The dragon guardian sighs again, then says “the master of that land is vile. Master Dai-Drecon saved me from becoming his amusement and sent me to this land. We were supposed to come together, but...” Ail finishes for the dragon “...he had to stay behind in order to save you, didn’t he?” The guardian dragon nods, then there’s a loud roar from outside the gate. Ail turns violet, then exclaims “it’s that shadow dragon again! He’s after the little one!” The guardian dragon shouts “stay here. Don’t come out. Just stay here and I’ll take care of it!” After the guardian dragon leave, Ail starts changing colors over and over, pacing left and right, then he hears two roars. He looks to the gate and says “I don’t care what he said. I have to help!”, then rushes through the gate in a flash.

Meanwhile, outside of Marisa’s house, Kali pants as she jumps on a tree branch with a frightened look on her eyes, and nervously looks around. She slowly calms down after nothing happens for a while, then says to herself “boy, that dragon sure has some temper.” A hand wraps its fingers around Kali’s neck, then Kimi places her face close to Kali’s, smiling dangerously, showing jagged teeth while sneering, then says “now, I’m going to rip you to shreds, you overweight shadow!” Kali turns to her shadow form in a panic, slips through Kimi’s fingers, and heads straight to Marisa’s house, shouting “I’M NOT FAT! I haven’t even had a decent MEAL!”, then enter through the small crack under the door. Kimi growls softly, clenching her hand into a fist with such force her hand turns white. She jumps from the tree and immediately chases after Kali. The door is open, so she calmly enters the messy house, and while looking around she says “tch! This place should be like a playground for her.” She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, then opens them again to look around for any sign of Kali’s body heat. She can’t find her in the room, so she decides to move further inside, looking around for any sign of the shadow, however, unknown to Kimi, Kali is already leaving through the crack of one of the windows. Kimi continues to look inside, then comes across the door to Marisa’s basement. The moment she opens the door, a powerful vacuum threatens to suck her in, however she keeps on her feet and casually enters the room. She closes the door behind her and stares at the vortex in front of her and says “hmph! Someone was playing a dangerous game here.” She takes casual steps down the stairs, and the moment her foot touches the ground, the vortex stops sucking the air and everything seems to freeze in place. Kimi smirks, then says “it seems it likes me.” Kimi hears dragon roars coming from inside the vortex, then her smirk turns to a longing face as she says “d-dragons? Here?” Without thinking, she rushes inside the paralyzed vortex and enters it, and the second she leaves the room, it begins to suck in air again. Inside the vortex, Kimi finds herself in a dark corridor with a ceiling that has purple waves coursing through it. She looks ahead, ignoring the black walls and floor in the void, then focuses on the small light ahead of her and begins to walk toward it. It seems like at least half an hour has passed, but Kimi continues to walk toward the light without stopping, then the light suddenly becomes larger in size. Kimi smiles and says “thought so. Just a pathetic illusion.” She hears a few more dragon roars coming from inside the gate and again her eye fill with longing, so without hesitation, she walks inside the gate. Once outside, she finds two dragons fighting fiercely, shooting fireballs and whipping their tails at each other while avoiding getting clawed or bitten. One of the dragons is black and white and she immediately recognizes him as the alpha, while the other is black with a red belly, which reminds her of Kali, for some reason. Kimi looks around, a smile fills her face, and without waiting for another second, she turns into her snake-dragon form, which reveals she’s a lot smaller when compared to the other two dragons, then joins the black and white dragon, saying “allow me to help!” The guardian dragon stutters for a moment, then asks “and who might you be, miss?” Kimi says “Kimi Hong, sir. Allow me to deal with this cow.” The black and red dragon roars, and in a rough tone of voice, she says “watch it, tiny! Just because you’re new doesn’t mean I’ll go easy!” Kimi smirks, then charges at the black and red dragon. Her entire body seems to get surrounded by intense flames, and as she rushes to the black and red dragon, blue waves of fire, twice her own size, trail along with her as she tackles the shadow dragon so quickly she doesn’t have time to retaliate, and shortly after Kimi strikes, the waves of blue fire overwhelm the gigantic dragon, making her fall with a roar to the ground. Kimi regroups with the guardian dragon, then says “see? Piece of cake.” Surprised, the guardian dragon says “for a small one like you, you sure have some power, miss Kimi. That was a spell from a red dragon. Where do you come from?” Kimi coils herself up to look at the guardian dragon’s eyes and casually says “Gensokyo.” The guardian dragons smiles, then says “oh, then maybe you know about Ail!” Kimi points behind her and casually asks “you mean that fireball thing hiding the whelp?” Surprised, the guardian dragon looks past Kimi, shouting “WHAT!?” Ail’s flame changes colors as he pushes a small baby blue dragon behind a rock for protection, and when he looks to the guardian dragon, he takes humanoid shape and waves his arms to the dragon. The guardian dragon roars and shouts “AIL, GET BACK INSIDE!” Ail’s flame suddenly disappears like a cloud of smoke, then the guardian dragon looks back to Kimi with urgency, and says “miss, I know where he is, but I’ll need help. Will you help me get him back?” Kimi looks away, thinking “great, that boy again. Tch! What a pain. I just wanted to look around here, but I guess I’ll have to babysit that kid for a bit.” She turns to face the guardian dragon, suddenly bushes, then looks away and nods, saying “fine. I think I may be able to help out more than you think. My left eye will find him with ease.” As the two dragons fly away, the guardian dragon asks “so, you were cursed before?” Kimi replies “yeah, yeah”, and thinks “crap, why’d he have to be so cute. Geez, how annoying.” From the ground, the shadow dragon glares at Kimi and says “I’ll remember this, you freak!”

Back at the subterranean, at the Palace of the Earth Spirits, Komachi walks around the palace with a bored expression, resting her head on her arms behind herself. She sighs and says “oh, this is so embarrassing! I’m lost, and it’s so quiet and boring in here. Sigh, I hope Eiki-sama is right about this!” From farther ahead, a calm voice asks “is someone there?” Komachi smiles and excitedly calls back “hello~! Finally, some signs of life!” Satori reveals herself from behind a pillar just ahead of Komachi, holding petal on her hand, who wears Rika’s gift necklace. Satori approaches Komachi, then asks “have you come for one of my pets, perhaps?” Komachi lazily smirks as she flaps her hand in the air and says “relax, I’m not here to pick anyone up. Just to deliver a message. Er... though you might want to check on your cat. She totally freaked out when she saw me.” Satori casually says “Phew, thank goodness. Oh, it seems you met Orin. Please, excuse my rudeness, but my own heart skipped a beat when I saw you.” Petal suddenly notices Komachi, desperately caws and tries to fly away, but Satori holds her tightly and says “it’s alright. Don’t be scared.” At the entrance to the palace, Orin lies on her back inside her own wheelbarrow, foaming at the mouth while violently twitching. Yuugi and Parsee stare at her for a moment, and with righteous determination, Yuugi says “crap, we’re too late for her! Parsee, we have to hurry! Satori might be in danger!” Sounding casual, Parsee says “I think she just fainted. Look, she even wet herself.” Yuugi grabs hold of Parsee’s shoulders and says “you are SO brave! To be so positive in the presence of a fallen comrade! Now come, I believe I now know who we are dealing with! Be ready, for this battle may be fierce, but together, we can WIN! Now come!” Parsee stands next to Orin, and as she stares at Yuugi, her eyes glow green and her lips wriggle, then she angrily says “why are you being so righteous!? I’m very jealous of you right now!” Back inside the palace, at ah large garden with an entrance to the former hells, Satori serves tea to her guest, while Petal pecks around the ground, making flowers bloom all over gazebo they sit under. Satori notices Petal is getting too close to the hole leading to the former hell, so she sternly says “Petal, you keep away from there. You know you can’t resist the heat.” Petal hops away from the hole, then pecks another patch of ground, making a single red rose bloom. Komachi rests her elbow on the table and her head on her fist as she stares at Petal with a smile on her face, then says “such a nice little girl. To think she was just a shadow before.” Satori stares at Komachi, then says “I understand you have to do what you are told, but please, try to take the fight away from the flowers.” Komachi smiles, then Satori says “I know I have Petal, but she’s not some machine to exploit.” Again, Komachi smiles widely, then says “it’s alright. It’ll all work out just fine.” Just as she finishes these words, and Satori asks “what do you mean?” Yuugi and Parsee reach the garden and Yuugi shouts “you have some nerve, coming to take souls from HERE! I’ll teach you a lesson you’ll NEVER forget!” She jumps to the air and launches a fierce downward punch straight at Komachi, who casually takes one last sip from her teacup, then jumps away at the very last second. Realizing she missed, Yuugi rubs her fist while smiling and says “well, I wasn’t expecting an easy fight. After all, I’m fighting death.” Komachi smirks, then says “let’s see what you guys got, alright?”

They battle all over the garden, however, not a single flower has been harmed since the entire battle has been about punches, kicks and well-timed dodges. Komachi continues to smile and almost never attacks, however, Yuugi furiously assaults her, constantly throwing furious punches straight at Komachi’s smiling face. While the battle goes on, Parsee and Petal watch from behind the single red rose, while Satori looks worriedly toward the both of them as they are very close to the former hell’s entrance. Parsee looks at Petal with contempt, however she blushes and says “y-you are cute”, then rubs the side of her cheek, making Petal caw softly. Meanwhile, Yuugi grabs hold of Komachi’s scythe, making the shinigami smile with malice and say “you’re very powerful miss oni, but all the strength in the world doesn’t compare to the power I wield, so why don’t you just stop and let me do my job?” Yuugi pulls Komachi closer to her and tries to headbutt the shinigami, however she somehow vanishes, turning to an orb of light, then appears just above the small gazebo she was sitting under just moments before. From the ground, Yuugi glares with fury and says “I would never interfere with your work, but there is no reason for you to be here. I want you out of here and not come back until it’s actually time for you to come!” Komachi sticks out her tongue while smiling casually, then scratches her head and says “mmm~, let me think, umm, nope! I do have something to do here. If you plan on interfering with me...” Komachi takes her scythe with her right hand and twirls it in front of herself until it stops with the blade covering half of her face, and while looking straight back at Yuugi with a determined smile, she says “I’m going to have to beat you up real badly. And that would be a shame, miss oni.” Yuugi jumps toward Komachi with her left fist raised, ready to strike the shinigami, but Komachi easily jumps out of the way, flipping in the air and striking Yuugi on the back of the head with the lower part of her scythe, sending Yuugi flying straight toward Parsee and Petal. Although Parsee and Petal manage to get out of the way just in time, Petal panics and flies into the depths of the former hells. Satori screams “PETAL, COME BACK!” Parsee stares curiously at Satori, who almost cries as she says “she’ll die down there!”, then waste no time and jumps in after the small hell raven’s shadow, followed closely by Yuugi. Komachi smiles and lifts her fist then quickly pulls it back down, exclaiming “yes! She did it!” Almost crying, Satori quickly approaches Komachi and asks “are you sure Petal will be ok!?” Komachi smiles, and in a reassuring tone she says “don’t worry. She’ll be fine. That girl will save her!” Down the hole, Parsee easily catches up to the frightened Petal and grabs a hold of her, already sweating form the heat emanating from farther below. She looks down below, then back at Petal, then says “phew! This heat is murder. Didn’t Satori tell you it’s dangerous down here...? Oh?” Parse notices the stone on Petal’s necklace, and for an instant, she notices a strange and soothing green glow surrounding the raven that comes from the stone itself. Her eyes glow green for a second, then she stares at Petal and says “that necklace is so cute. I’m so jealous. But let’s get out of here, so I can be properly jealous where it’s cool.” As they go back up, they are intercepted by Yuugi as she rushes down to save them both. Parsee lets out an “oomph” as Yuugi grabs her and Petal, then quickly turns around and says “that stupid shinigami almost took you, but oh no, I won’t let her!” Parsee stares at Yuugi, then angrily says “why are you so kind!? I’m really jealous of that!” Yuugi smirks and says “fine, you can be jealous up there. It’s much cooler!”

After reaching the surface, Yuugi gently drops Parsee and Petal to her left, then raises her fists and says “alright, you went too far, now I’m gonna...!” Satori stands in front of Komachi and says “it’s alright Yuugi. It’s over. She’s leaving already.” Yuugi raises her left eyebrow and stares at Satori while lowering her fists, then asks “then why the hell was all of this for?” Komachi smiles and points at Parsee, then says “Shikieiki-sama needs your help. I am not sure if you’re aware, but there’s been a terrible incident on the world above, so we have been searching for some helping hands, to deal with this problem.” Parsee continues to hold Petal in her hands, and while petting her head she asks “why am I not feeling jealous of you? You say this so calmly. I should be so jealous!” Satori calmly says “it’s because, she is very worried. In truth, this incident could cost more than mere deaths.” Komachi sighs, her smile vanishes, and as she continues to stare to Parsee, she says “that’s right. This involve you too. Will you help us?” Parsee stands sideway and looks away from Komachi, and sounding a bit annoyed she says “well, I guess I got nothing else to do for now. And the bridge is kinda boring lately... so I guess I can go up there and be jealous of you surface dwellers for a while.” Komachi smiles again and bows as she says “your assistance is much appreciated.” When she lifts her head again, she spots Okuu aiming her control rod and her. Komachi’s face turns blue, her eyes widen, then she smiles and nervously says “er, well, it was nice getting to know you all, but now it’s late so I gotta go, bye!” Satori, Yuugi and Parsee all look at each other curiously as Komachi flies away. Petal excitedly caws and suddenly Okuu says “intruder detected in the vicinity. Prepare to remove in 5, 4, 3, 2...” Satori, Yuugi and Parsee turn around and find Okuu preparing a large orb of energy while looking toward where Komachi was. Satori shouts “Okuu, stop! You’re going to destroy the garden!”, but it’s too late and she and the other two girls find themselves flying away as fast as they can to avoid Okuu’s excessively overpowered attack, which she unleashes with a smile while saying “thank you. Don’t come again!” Meanwhile, by the palace’s entrance, Orin walks inside with a very discontent look on her face and says “oh. I even went and wet myself. Stupid girl, coming out of nowhere and carrying that large weapon. What was she thinking!?” Orin’s face turns white, her eyes shrink to the size of marbles, and she twitches in place as Komachi hurriedly flies straight at her with her scythe on hand. Orin jumps high to the ceiling, shouting “NYA~~! She’s back~!” Komachi ignores Orin, who clings to the ceiling with her claws and trembles, then goes right through the doors and heading back to the surface. Orin trembles as she stares toward Komachi, then slides down, scratching the ceiling and pillar, then asks “eh? She just went through...?” There is a sudden explosion, and Orin’s entire body stiffens, then she falls to the ground on her back, foaming at the mouth.

That afternoon, at the Moriya Shrine. Budou sits next to Sanae on the shrine’s porch, watching as Sanae stares at the crystal rose Reimu gave her. Budou stares at Sanae for a moment, then asks “mama? Are you going to call?” Sanae sighs, then says “I suppose we better do this now.” She stares into the rose’s bud, then gently says “Ayalina. Can you hear me?” At first, nothing happens, but the rose suddenly starts to open up, and after it becomes a fully bloomed rose, a blue image of Ayalina appears before Sanae and Budou. She smiles and says “miss Sanae. Little Budou? Where is miss Reimu? Wait, more importantly, is Ail doing alright?” Sanae and Budou look at each other in surprise, then Sanae turns to face Ayalina and asks “how did you know Ail was here?” Ayalina places her hand on her chest and says “he mysteriously disappeared one day, and somehow... I knew he was there.” Budou calmly asks “then why didn’t you try and contact him? Aren’t you his mama? Weren’t you worried for papa Ail?” Ayalina places her other hand on her chest on top of the first, looking very saddened after the question, then, before Sanae scolds Budou Ayalina says “we are being constantly watched by very mean men, little one. The only reason I was able to answer you, is because I’m inside my bathroom.” Sanae smiles sheepishly and says “I hope we didn’t interrupt anything.” Ayalina chuckles and says “no, dear, you didn’t. Now tell me, if Ail is back, why those long faces?” Budou and Sanae look at each other and stutter for a moment, then Sanae takes a deep breath and says “before we got to Ail... something happened. And now, although we do have his body safe and sound, he’s acting entirely on his subconscious. The worst part is...” Budou flaps her wings and shouts “we don’t really know HOW to get papa back! All we have is his body, but not papa!” She starts to sob, then says “I want him back! M-maybe he can get Phredia back for me too!” Ayalina looks to Budou and stares for a while, and in a sad tone of voice she says “I see. All that has happened, huh? Well, I can’t go in and help, since we’re under constant watch here.” Sanae sighs and says “we understand. Don’t we, Budou?” Budou rubs her left eye and nods, then Ayalina smiles, but suddenly worries and says “someone’s coming. Look, if I can, I’ll try to go and help in any way I can, but not right now. Sorry. Don’t cry, little one. Be strong for Ail...” Ayalina’s image disappears and the rose shrinks back into a bud. Budou calms down and looks at Sanae, who has a helpless look on her face, then she gets up and walks to her, wrapping her wings and arms around Sanae, saying “I’m sorry... I know you are trying your best, mama.” Sanae snaps out of her thoughts and realizes Budou is covering her up with her wings, then chuckles and wraps and arm around Budou’s neck. She gives Budou a kiss on the side of her head and says “we’ll get Ail back, Budou. As for... Phredia...” Budou twitches, feeling a sense of despair in her, however she manages to calmly say “she will come back, mama. You’ll see. She and papa will come back to us.” Koishi suddenly appears sitting next to them and says “but before that happens, I believe you two will learn something first.” Budou and Sanae both look back at Koishi in shock, then Sanae asks “when did you get here!?” Koishi simply smiles while Lily and Ail fly by, both spreading their danmaku around as if it were some sort of game. Underneath the ground, Hatate can hear the bullets exploding on the ground, but is unable to move or call for help, so to pass the time, she decides to count how many explosions there are in a second.

Meanwhile, during the afternoon, Alice flies above the village with Shanghai and Hourai accompanying her, and while she looks down she says “the village. I can’t believe we’ll be fighting with that girl in just 2 days.” Shanghai approaches Alice and says “don’t worry, mama. You can do it!” Hourai approaches Alice from the other side and adds “and you have US too. We won’t let them hurt you, mama!” Alice smiles and thinks “you certainly have proven that already.” A few minutes later, Alice arrives to her house with both her girls and after landing in front of her house, she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, then smiles as she opens her eyes again and says “we’re back home, girls.” Shanghai excitedly cheers and says “Hourai, mom and me, as it should be!” Hourai adds “I’ll even bake us a cake!” Alice giggles and says “let’s just go inside first, what do you say?” Alice opens the door and Shanghai and Hourai quickly fly inside, and when Alice takes a step inside, a small silver washtub falls on her head, knocking her to the ground. Hourai rushes back and yells “mama! What happened, mama!?” Three fairies sit on the ceiling’s supports, giggling amongst themselves, thinking they can’t be heard or seen, however, Shanghai hovers next to them, staring them with a neutral expression on her face. From outside the house, echoes of blasts and screams are heard all the way back to Marisa’s own house. Meanwhile, at the shores of the Sanzu River, Komachi and Shikieiki regroup. Shikieiki approaches Komachi with a smile and says “it was a little rough, but I was able to succeed. How about you, Komachi?” Komachi laughs as she rubs the back of her own head and says “well, it went down just as you predicted, Eiki-sama. The girl showed me she actually cares and accepted without question.” Smiling, Shikieiki says “good, good. And did you tell her what she has to do?” Komachi’s face turns blue and she starts to sweat. Her eyes shrink and she nervously says “um, well... err, you see, this REALLY powerful raven came by and started to attack me, so I had to run away and...” Shikieiki continues to smile as she gets closer to Komachi, and in a sudden swing of her arm she strikes Komachi’s head hard with her sword, shouting “REPENT!!!” Komachi falls to the ground with her eyes spinning in place, then Shikieiki lets her sword fall to the ground. Her hand trembles, and as she looks at it she says “I see. It’s still not fully healed...” She looks at the unconscious Komachi, then says “it hurts... but it’s worth it.”

That night, at the Library in the Scarlet Devil Mansion, Patchouli and Rika quietly read through some books, then Rika suddenly asks “miss Patchouli... If I were to use one of these great magic spells without knowing how... would they work?” Patchouli casually says “not at all.” Rika curiously looks into her book and says “oh, I see...” Patchouli buries her face into her own book, then says “you’d just end up dead, sealed in another existence, or you could wind up dead without actually knowing you are dead at all. So it’s a good thing you haven’t tried these out.” Rika’s face turns white, sweat drops fall quickly down to her neck, and the maid trembles as she thinks about it, then says “and you say that so casually?” The sound of a cup breaking somewhere in the mansion reaches Rika’s ears, then she stands up, completely recovered from her shock, then casually says “seems miss Scarlet needs something. I won’t be long, miss Patchouli.” The magician grabs Rika’s sleeve before she leaves, then raises her sight to meet Rika’s and sounding strict she says “don’t let her get to you, Rika. You are just doing your job.” Rika stares back in surprise, but recovers her usual smiling face, nods, then says “thank you for the advice, lady Patchouli.”

To be continued...

Characters, Spell Cards and Scenario belong to ZUN -Team Shanghai Alice-
Ail, Kyo, Luna, Budou, Phredia, Agava, Kimi, Kali, the RKNS, Dai-Drecon and Ayalina were created by Willie G.R.
Rika Onkamikami was created by Snapshot2010

APR 15 2010
Written by
Willie G.R.

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